Best Indoor Ice Rinks In New York City

When it’s bad weather outside, then you may need to avoid the outside ice rinks in New York City and go for an protected indoor ice skating rink.

Most ice rinks in New York City are not covered, but a few key ones do have a roof and walls that will keep you out of the adverse weather elements that may include rain, snow, ice and wind. We list your best indoor ice skating rink choices in the NYC area, where you can have fun on the ice and still survive the New York City weather.

The Hype: The Sky Rink is a year-round indoor skating rink at Pier 61 at Chelsea Piers and is open six days a week. The venue has the virtue of having two ice skating rinks. Located in the heart of midtown, the Chelsea Piers ice rink offer state-of-the-art facilities and there are plenty of things to do before and after your skate. The public skating session at Sky Rink will only set you back about $20 to skate and the quality of the ice is far better than many of the outside NYC rinks.

The Reality: Although this location has two ice rinks, only one rink is ever used for public sessions regardless of how many people are trying to skate during the busy times. This ice rink can get jammed with people, it gets so jammed that it often gets out of control. The other rink is always rented out for private hire. Even in the public session, ice skate patrons are barred from skating in the center section of the ice and at all four corners of the rink, due to private lessons taking over those areas (which should really be done in the other ice rink). This means that the Sky Rink crams a huge amount of skaters into a regular size ice rink and then makes them skate in an odd serpentine fashion by trying to avoid all the coned off areas, leading to skater frustration and on-ice accidents, of which there are many at this skate venue. Of course the Chelsea Pier's management decry all responsibility for any skating accidents "as skating does have inherent risks", but their business decisions clearly increase the danger of accidents at this ice rink.

Hackensack NJ: The Ice House

The Hype: Just 30 minutes from the George Washington Bridge exists one of the biggest names in ice dance stadiums, The Ice House in Hackensack. This four rink behemoth caters to ice dance, ice hockey, private party hire and public sessions often all happening at the same time as this stadium has four rinks and a ton of professional support for each of its services. So many ice dance stars came out of this rink that this is the NYC epicenter for figure skating. The ice is usually well kept and they tend to resurface every 1.5 hrs and hourly when its busy. They also offer a Friday night disco for young adults during the Winter season. This skate venue is all about the ice and has none of the other frills. There is also a nice gym on site, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to have it there.

The Reality: Just like every other NYC Ice rink (other than Rockefeller Center), The Ice House will attempt to cram as many people onto the ice in a public session as they can. This rink has been know to put over 1000 people on one standard size rink at any one time, so its best to avoid the busy times here. The snack bar area and the bathrooms are a bit crappy and the whole place is in desperate need of an overhaul, with peeling paint and broken bathrooms. The rental skates are often falling apart here, so you might want to bring your own. The management actually closes the building on Holidays, which is when many people are most likely to skate, so forget about skating with a News Year's day hangover or after eating your Thanksgiving Turkey. You would think that with four separate ice rinks in the building, they would be able to split the busy public sessions into two, but that logic seems so far ahead of them as the rink is still stuck in its 1980's glory years and shows no sign of turning things around.

Long Island City: City Ice Pavilion

The Hype: If you are in the Long Island City neighborhood, then this rooftop skating ice facility is open year-round and its NHL-size skate rink offers public skating. The rink also has hockey programs for youths and adults and a Skating School that provides tuition to those that want to learn some figure skating and to nail that Triple Sal-chow. This is an enormous skate facility that offers great ice and decent rental skates.

The Reality: This content is coming soon, as we haven't visited this location yet.

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